By Paul A. Thomas
University of Georgia
Volume XXVIII
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Hummingbirds overwinter in Central and South America. Our
ruby-throated hummingbirds
return to most parts of Georgia in March (in Atlanta, around
March 20). So that’s
the time to dust off the feeders.
Three-step success
Follow three simple steps to get hummingbirds to feed, nest
and raise young
in your yard.
- Buy six to eight feeders per half-acre of land.
- Place two or three in the open sunshine or near windows to
attract males.
A feeder on the west, south and east sides of the house work
well. Each will
be visited most when the sun is on it. - Place the other feeders in the canopy of trees. The
preferred height is
10 to 15 feet. You can do this by hanging a set of “S” hooks
on the branches
and using a pole with a hook at the end to raise the
feeder.
The reason behind this is simple. Males doggedly defend their
feeder, making
it very hard for the females and young to feed. Females,
though, search for
nectar in treetops in tropical jungles and are much more
comfortable feeding
in semiprivacy in the canopy. Without fail, our hummingbirds
nest within 15
to 20 feet of the feeders in the canopy. They prefer dogwoods,
hickory and oak.
Simple maintenance
The simple maintenance rule is to fill each feeder half full
and then clean
and replace the sugar water every other day. Hummingbirds
won’t use old, cloudy, rotten sugar water.
They may leave your garden in disgust.
Given eight feeders, keeping feeders fresh can be a chore if
not tasked properly.
We found that filling four feeders every day after dinner as
part of kitchen cleanup works
great, especially if you have kids that help out.
The birds get comfortable with the pattern, and since we all
eat dinner, it’s
easier to stay on task during a busy week.
Nectar recipe
Of the several recipes for sugar water, the one we recommend
is 1 part sugar
to 3 parts water. This makes a 25-percent sucrose solution,
very similar to the sugar content
of phlox, salvia and buckeyes. Nectar-producing flowers
usually range between 20-percent and 25-percent
sugar. A 4-to-1 ratio is fine, but it may not have the draw a
more concentrated solution
has. We don’t add anything else. We make up 1-gallon batches,
boil it just a few
minutes, let it cool and store it in the refrigerator. A
gallon supplies eight feeders for two weeks
on our cleaning-feeding schedule.
“Tipping” their waiters
My wife and I have been feeding hummingbirds for 13 years in
Athens. Each year
we see circumstantial evidence that the birds try to get our
attention when their
feeders are low.
This is particularly true in drought. They hover around our
heads when we’re
working in the yard and outside windows, chirping loudly when
we emerge from the house. I’ve seen
two or three hover or sit patiently in a nearby branch while
my wife changes the feeders.
Dependence builds
The best way to look at feeding any wildlife is that once you
start, you’re
changing their behavior,and they depend on you for the rest of
the season.
Males set up territories that include food sources. Females
may even take food
sources into account when selecting a mate’s territory.
Eliminating that source of food (say, during the hottest part
of July during
your three-week vacation) will likely put stress on the birds.
This is particularly true if the birds are raising young or you
don’t have
other sources of nectar and small insects, such as a butterfly-
hummingbird garden or a nearby creek. Be sure to have someone
feed the birds in your absence, or they may find another
garden to call home.
